Carlitos is a genuine LA character. From stuffing burritos at El Rey Taco for 60s and 70s era USC football greats at Fig & Vermont when he was a teenager to making the leather boots for the old PSA stews (i.e., flight attendants) to throwing my favorite Xmas party, the man is endlessly amusing and excellent company. We have a March Madness bet - most wins - and this year I nipped him by 2 games. So he had to buy dinner at his favorite local Italian joint, Giorgios, in Palos Verdes. Like Litos, Giorgios is classic right down to the plaster statues between the banquettes. The highlight of the meal, for me, was Chef Carlo serving us panne cota ora'nge for dessert. Carlos requested cherries jubilee (what else?) which Giorgio prepared at the table. The only thing missing was a Tony Bennett serenade.

Now the wines. Carlitos loves classic Napa cabernet. He has a garage full of it. This summer he is going to install an air conditioner in the garage because come Aug-Sep it can get warm-ish up on the PV hill (even though the afternoon of the dinner at 75F it was 20 degrees cooler than the West Valley). The cool ocean air allows him to keep the wines in reasonably good shape. I have never had one that turned, even the 1966 BV George de Latour he opened Dec 10. I always look forward to drinking wine with Carlos (and lovely Alice his keeper and charming muse) because it gives me a chance to try wines I have long abandoned - classic Napa cabs. The other cool thing is that I know most of the wines he opens from 2 decades past so it is lotsa fun to reach back and discuss some 80s vintages (the last Napa cab I recall buying was the 1990 Mondavi Reserve in double mag; still have it). This what we tasted on Carlitos Way the other night.

1996 McKenzie-Mueller Merlot (in mag): We had this in December as well. It is simply magnificent.
This tells you everything you need to know about Bob Mueller's winemaking talent. Forget merlot-bashing. Some folks actually make it memorable. Bob is one such. My wife bought a 1999 Wild Horse Merlot at the winery in 2005 (with the Constellation turnover they must have been clearing the cellars). Excellent. The M-M wine was fresh, voluptuous without being plump, full-bodied. Deep flavors. If the evening can be likened to The Magnificent Seven (on TV today) this wine is Chris (Yul Brynner's leader). Straightforward, practical, daring, a winner.

1995 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon: See what I mean about Litos' cellar? Who has these wines? Let me amend that...who bought these wines and held onto them a decade or more? This is the Steve McQueen character in M7. Sensible, classic, dependable, solid as a rock, nimble. Classic Napa cedar nose. Middle weight, tannins pretty settled in. Pure Napa cab balanced with fruit and wood, both appropriately mellowed and blended. If I could drink one wine on its own this would be the one.

1998 Phelps Insignia: Do you remember Horst Bucholz in M7? He is mistreated by Chris and the others. They think he does not belong. He is obviously insecure and wants to be one of the gang so badly it hurts him. Flashy. Full of stuff. Bombastic. Oh. Back to the wine. Phelps Insignia lacks nothing in terms of being included with the classic lineup of old guard Napa cabs. Maybe it was never BV de Latour, Heitz Marthas, Ridge Montebello, or Montelena. If there is any hint of "less than" maybe that is because it is a blend, I mean Meritage. The 1998 was 78% cab, 22% merlot. I always recall the 1985 Insignia, remembering it was so minty and eucalyptus-ilke. Turns out it had 15$ cab franc! This 98 was the big baby of the night (not crybaby, more like Glen Davis aka Baby Shaq). First, it was completely fresh like it was bottled last month. Living in Carlitos' garage however many years did nothing to diminish this wine's power. Like a smack in the face. Kick in the gut. Round, firm, full, powerful. Big fruit but not over-ripe at all. Even the bottle is kind of rugged and powerful. This was the wine to stand up to Chef Carlo's chianti wine sauce with the slices of fresh garlic. This wine will keep another decade easily. I wonder if it will ever age? It is that huge. Do not misunderstand. It is not overblown. Just overwhelming. This is a wine to take to a blind tasting of monster Napa cabs. Put this in a bag with the other big names and let's see who likes what.

Happy 4th.

With a double bar/t mitzvah in Palo Alto (Papa Ricolini vogues Tevya at reception) we saw the opportunity to extend a few days and hit Napa as long as we were so near. A trip to Napa is always mixed for me...at least at the outset. Visiting with good friends is a plus. But given the pure wine-country choice I would prefer to visit almost anywhere else like Paso Robles or even better Walla Walla.

Napa is silly. Take the tasting rooms...please. [apologetic link to Henny Youngman insult machine] In Napa they have tasting galleries. U20 wines? Not in Napa no way no how. It costs at least $20 just to taste wines in the galleries. The Del Dotto Gallery demands $40 and they keep the glass. And they are hardly the exception. If you plan on tasting at Del Dotto, Stags Leap and Opus in the same day bring a couple hundies...for the privilege of sipping and spitting in a bucket. The way I get around the over-the-top silliness of Napa is to make sure I visit Carneros first. Which means a visit with McKenzie-Mueller.

Fall paints brilliant colors which are wonderful to look at in the wine country light. I did not get a single picture but I do keep the memories of blazing orange, scarlet and brown vineyards.

Karen McKenzie greeted us and we got right to tasting. All prices reflect M-M Wine Club 25% discount. She poured wine on their tasting table...in the same warehouse (OK, very large garage) where they make and store the wine. Bought every wine reviewed.

2006 McKenzie-Mueller Sauvignon Blanc ~$18: She said this wine came from vines that they had tried to convert ("t-budded") to red varietals. Some the vines produced SB anyway! So they bottled a very small amount of very fresh, minerally and not at all grassy SB. Like a Sancerre.

2005 McKenzie-Mueller Clan Rose ~$14: 63% cab franc makes for a brawny pinky.

2004 McKenzie-Mueller Pinot Noir $~$26: Deep almost caramel nose. Deep red robe. Fruit forward, elegant. The thing about Bob's pinot is that you would not mistake it for Sonoma, Napa or Santa Rita. He gets the Carneros smoke and slightly briny fruit far better than other Carneros producers. Outstanding. Biggest purchase.

2002 McKenzie-Mueller Merlot ~$26: Bob makes the best and the best value merlot. Five years in bottle and completely fresh. Another deep wine with seductive aromas of blackest cherry. Spectacular.

2003 McKenzie-Mueller Cabernet Franc ~$26: Of the three reds we bought this was the least spectacular. Which is like saying Lana Turner was not quite Marilyn Monroe. Or James Coburn was not quite Clint Eastwood. More narrow flavor profile and still kicking it good. We purchased.

The McKenzie-Mueller presentation never disappoints. I need more of these wines!

On the way to Napa we spent an overnight in The City. I will not bore you with my appraisal of all the ways SF is so much cooler than LA. The restaurants with their intelligent wine lists is one reason. Here is what we tasted at SPQR, the new A16 installment in Pacific Heights on Fillmore. You can order a 3 ounce taste, a 6 ounce glass or a 375 ml carafe of any of the 32 wines on the list. Is there one LA restaurant that has even considered this policy? Lou (Dottore' suggestion) may be the closest LA has to this enlightened of a wine policy. I am showing the price on the wine list which you have to figure is a 100% markup from what you might pay retail.

First the white wines...

2004 Emmanuele Scammarca 'Murgo' Nerello Mascalese Brut, Sicilia $49: Toasty nose. Tiny bead. Dry flavor, pinot fruit, good acid and citric flavors in balance. Terrific.

2006 Ferrando 'La Torrazza' Erbaluce di Caluso, Piemonte $32: Neal Rosenthal selection. Creamy, oak on nose and in flavors. Vanilla and mineral going on. Find it, buy it. Has to be excellent value.

2006 Scagliola 'Casot dan Vian ' Chardonnay, Piemonte $37: Pale color. Sweet and salty flavors. Stick to Arneis.

2005 Di Giovanna 'G&K" Grillo, Sicilia $40: Resembles sauvignon blanc con grass.

And two reds...

2006 Castello di Luzzano 'Carlino Bonardo, Oltrepo' Pavese, Lombardia $36: Perfumed fruity nose. Flavor is cooked fruit like in a pie. A bit green. OK, not great.

2004 Di Giovanna Nero d'Avola, Sicila $34: Earthy nose, almost veggie, burnt charcoal-like. Sounds awful huh? Tasted great! Perfect BBQ wine. Even has BBQ tastes, rich and smoky. I would hunt this one down.

SPQR was a great stop. Dropped in at the Elite Cafe up the street before heading to Firefly in Noe Valley for a quiet dinner. We'll dine at Elite next time up.

Sunday night we dined at Uva in Napa. Great local spot. Food was excellent. Service unpretentious. Carlos brought wines.

1999 Clarendon Hills Shiraz Moritz Vineyard ~$128 online: This is the first Aussie shiraz I have actually enjoyed. Excellent balance, lush fruit. Ready to drink. Like a Carneros merlot crossed with Russian River pinot. Was worth the wait. Hmm. Could there be others this good?

2003 Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cenerentola Orcia ~$50: Tuscan blend of 65% Sangiovese and 35% Foglia Tonda (a once-cast-aside grape she is resurrecting) tastes more like Sicilian style than Tuscan. And no cab so it tastes nothing like a super Tuscan. Or her highly regarded Brunello. Have had this before also from Litos' cellar. Tannic, like-able, good cherry flavor. But tannic. Keeper. Stylized label represents...Italian woman with 3 names? Cerentola translates to Cinderella. Her press suggests she is kinda cool.

Monday we awakened to a gorgeous Napa day. By this time Carlitos and Alice are in tow. There is no sense getting in the way of the irresistible force that is Carlos. We headed directly to Sterling Winery. I know what you are thinking...Sterling? The winery with the tram ride? I will tell you we spent three hours there being served by Sigrid in the VIP Room tasting the best wines Sterling has to offer. And they were excellent. Among the big Napa/Sonoma producers - Mondavi, Beringer, Simi, Kendall-Jackson, BV - I favor Sterling. Now that Sterling is owned by Diageo they no longer produce a Winery Lake chardonnay. Acacia (another Diageo property) produces the Winery Lake since Acacia is the "single vineyard" property in the minds of Diageo marketers. Having just finished reading the Mondavi book (read review here) I understand the importance of positioning product up and down the price ladder. And Acacia in a word? Unimpressive.

But Sterling...and Sigrid...what a great afternoon. Retail prices at the winery listed. Enterprising folks (such as Carlitos) can do better.

1998 Sterling Cabernet Reserve $100: Wow. And I am not a cab fan. And 1998 is an "off vintage" for Napa. Extended rains in Spring delayed bud break all over the valley. But this wine was special. Tobacco, cedar in nose and flavors. Velvet smooth, all integrated, black cherry fruit. Not listed for sale.

2001 Sterling Reserve Merlot $75: Not listed. Vanilla flavors. Sweet. Too much for my taste.

2004 Sterling Three Palms Merlot $65: Tannic, chocolate/coca flavors. Doughy nose. Dark red color. Needs time. 14.2%

2001 Sterling Three Palms Merlot $60: Spicy, mint nose. Lusty wine, mocha flavors, beautiful. 13.5%. Winnah. Pay the front line! A great contrast to the McKenzie-Mueller style. Not listed for sale.

2004 Sterling Vineyards Reserve $45: Bordeaux blend sourced throughout Napa Valley (i.e., Diageo properties). Earthy, cab/merlot/petit verdot. Everything I find boring in Napa cabs.

2001 Sterling Red Carpet Reserve $100: Not listed for sale. Bordeaux blend bottled for the Academy's Oscar party. Nose is integrated. Balanced flavors, shoe polish flavors I associate with Bordeaux blends that are mostly cab and merlot. The pitch is make your friends who watch the Oscars with you feel special. I would rather watch Dog the Bounty Hunter than the Oscar show. Actually I would rather watch Beth. Now she is in perfect balance.

2003 Sterling Diamond Mountain Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon $65: No sooner do I open my big mouth about boring cabs then I fall in love with this fabulous wine. Mint nose, intense mountain fruit, lush package all round. This wine would be tempting at full retail. At the price we paid it is a very good buy. 13.5%

Diageo seems to have improved things at Sterling. The marketers have not run roughshod over the winemakers. There are only a few mega-players like Diageo and, together, they own an important proportion of the valley. But don't ask me. Ask the staff who all seem very happy and were exceptionally helpful and courteous. Sterling Winery - worth the visit.

And then there were three more wines...

Monday night we dined at Redd in Yountville. This is high-ticket fancy-pants joint. Even though it is major frous-frous I must compliment the staff on their top-of-the-line service. We were a difficult party arriving 30 minutes early and asking to be seated if something opened up. It did. They offered but we were not quite ready. When we did get to our table we were unhappy with it so back to the bar we went. They set us up in a better location in a few minutes. Unashamed, we lobbied hard to open a bottle we had brought that was also on their list. A no-no. However, the maitre'd Adam graciously assented.

The Redd decor is elegantly spare with a backlit mirror along the rear wall. Even our waiter Misty was spare. I wish I had her photo. Thin, pale. The wait staff uniform is black shirt, pants and tie. A black and white houndstooth full length apron provides contrast. Misty - who was exceptionally competent - completed the look with jet black hair, pale pale skin, round black earrings and no lipstick. How perfect is that? Prices not posted since they are ridiculously over-the-top.

1999 Roederer Cristal: We actually had this at the hotel before heading out. Golden color. Small bead. Lemon flavors. Not toasty at all. Clean and rich.

2004 Opus One: I think Opus is better since going on its own sans Mondavi. The 04 is round, balanced with lots of merlot. That is a good idea. The website is a total pain.

2000 Joseph Phelps Insignia: Insignia has always been an idiosyncratic wine. Mesmerizing; like watching "a snail crawl across a razor's edge". I go back to 1985 with it. Minty to a fault. Showing characteristic mint flavor. Narrow band of flavors. angular. Intense and focused. This 7 year old wine is quite muscular. Think Tommy "Hit Man" Hearns. It will knock you out.

Until next time.

It's Christmas Eve as I write this. The Godfather is on, everyone is chillin'. Tomorrow is the big party. Tamales, honey-baked ham. Mama's lasagna and many U20 wines from Dar-dee's cellar and those of our guests. So I want to get these notes down in advance since there will be many more tomorrow...I hope. We opened these wines over the past week, some with company and some on our own. All in all, a very nice group...of wines.

How about this 2007 photo of a Piemontese La Morra vineyard? My cousin's 12 year old son took it. Think he will learn to enjoy wine? I think so.

2004 Chateau Graville-Lacoste ~$16: This is why you have to love Kermit Lynch. He brings in wines like this one that are top flight and low price. Graves is my preferred Bordeaux region. The wines are "gravelly" which, to me, means more stony, dry, mineral-like. Read a review on how this wine reflects Graves here. The price/quality ratio is outstanding. Delightfully citric, lemon peel, some grassiness. Perfect acid balance. Dry, firm. 12% alcohol excuse me. A wine that knows what it is (semillon!).

2004 Page Springs Cellars El Serrano California Red Wine ~$30 in Arizona: Just off the main road to Sedona one will find the Page Spring Cellars winery that is devoted to Southern Rhone style wines. Now this is an interesting venture. They have planted estate Rhone grapes that will produce quality juice around 2010 (one can and does harvest at five years but it really takes 7 years minimum to produce decent juice). In the meantime they source Mourverdre, Syrah and more from Paso and eastern Monterey vineyards, some with 50 to 80 year old vines. This bottle includes Mourvedre, Syrah and "a touch" of Cabernet Pfeffer. The website is excellent and the winemaker is clearly a man of vision. Read about the intriguing Dos Cabezas (now Arizona) vineyard. Reminds me of Dave Corey's Alta Mesa property. The wine was light to medium weight, rusty red color. Nose is delicate with spice. Flavors are balanced, soft, seductive with the syrah in front. 14.7%. This winery is worth watching. Have I found a new wine club?

2002 MacKenzie-Mueller Merlot ~$30 (at the winery): Perfectly balanced to the point that it seems so simple. Why isn't every wine this easy to swallow and enjoy? Tasted this same evening with the Reynolds mega-cab. I consider this a question of Springsteen versus Bob Seger. One guy is an iconic genius loved by rock critics and millions of fans across the nation. The other guy just writes simple straightforward classic songs that rock. One guy belongs in an arena with thousands of fans flicking their Bics. The other guy (also named Bob) plays arenas but works best in a smaller venue with fans who love the music before the man. Who knows better? Who do you love? This merlot is simply excellent. Yikes 15%!

2002 Reynolds Family Stags Leap District Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ~$60 (at the winery): The Reynolds winery is located just outside Napa on the Silverado Trail. These guys make classic outstanding extracted Napa cab. Lovely and distinctive label of crushed heavy-weight tissue paper with an embossed sprig. Instant visual appeal. My son tells me this is a popular among attorneys for a holiday gift that demonstrates the gifter knows a thing or two about under-the-radar Napa cabs.< Which is something like preferring an Ulysses-Nardin timepiece over a Concord. Both are over-the-top silly and priced beyond defensibility. I'll take a Bell & Ross or U-boat when it comes to interesting and exciting wrist wear. This wine is like so many other extracted cabs, with some herbaceousness (herbocity?) I associate with elevated hilltop or hillside vineyards. It will surely be a hit among the cab crowd and will accomplish the objective of demonstrating what it means to be on the ascent when it comes to the Napa clique. 14.7%

The next two wines are from the Rioja Alta which is in northern Spain on the way to Navarra and the French border. Basque country is north of Alta Rioja by which I mean to say this is not the Spain you might expect. This is premium wine country where Tempranillo is king. This is not Ibiza or Mallorca. Not Valencia or Granada. This is premium centuries-old Spanish wine country. I have toured by car and would return in uno minuto Nueva Jorca. Here is an informative and well-written history of the region.

1994 Roda I Reserva: This is a 20 year old Spanish winery from the Rioja Alta. The winery is big boutique in tone, producing 7500 cases in 1994; 83% Tempranillo and 17% Garnacha (Grenache). This vintage is lovely and at 13 years age it has matured nicely. Tannins are folded in, fruit is fleshy but firm. The overarching tasting notes for Roda I from the Bodegas Roda website describe "The deep, dark, black fruit is almost always dominated by plum aromas together with mineral and chocolate notes, balsamic flavours...: I do taste balsamic and the mineral qualities in this vintage. Of the two vintages this is preferred. But, yaknowhat? I would not buy this wine again. Read what someone else thinks about the winery here. 13.5%

1996 Roda I Reserva: I finally get to write about an important topic in wine making and tasting...brettanomyces. This wine has a level of brett that is noticeable in the nose and taste. What is it? You can read about what is brett is in the wikipedia reference above. However, what does it taste like? The flavor is thickening And for me the sensory anchor is shoe polish. Good old fashioned Kiwi black shoe polish. The flavor is distinctive something like 70% plus cacao. Dense, heavy, narrow in bandwidth. Not at all complex. I opened both wines to taste side by side. Three days later I ended pouring both into the same glass. Definitely helped the 1996. 13.5%.

Once I began reading about the Uco valley (Internet trip planning) I knew I had to visit. [ed. one of many spectacular views in the valley, this from Bodega Salentien] It just sounded too incredible: the region where the big money was taking up roost; bodegas spread even more few and far between than Maipu or Lujan du Cuyo, highest altitude vineyards in Mendoza province, and proximity to the second largest peak, Tupungato at over19,000 feet, in the Andes. Knowing there would be a major peak that I could actually see with the naked eye while touring vineyards was important because it meant I could easily torpedo any move to take a day-long bus ride (10 hours) to Aconcagua, the tallest Andean peak that can only be seen after a long bus ride up the mountain and which is a popular tourist activity when at a loss for what to do next in Mendoza. When my team was at a loss for what to do next in Mendoza we asked Posada de Rosas hostess Ellen and she suggested we have lunch in the Parque San Martin where tourists seldom ventured. As usual she was perfectly correct.

Before we review the day in Valle de Uco, I want to finish the second half of the previous day in Maipu and Lujan de Cuyo. After touring Bodegas Tempus Alba and Achaval Ferrer we were driven to the Carlos Pulenta compound in Lujan de Cuyo where we were set to have lunch at the Mendoza's finest restaurant La Bourgogne followed by a bodega tour. One can be easily fooled by a first look at the Pulenta facility. It presents as a familiar Latino rectangular compound centered around an open courtyard. There is a posada with a few rooms above the entrance and the restaurant is at the other end of the central pathway. the bodega? All underground. And it is huge.

The bodega tour was efficient. We saw the fermentation tanks and long open storage rooms. Unlike any other winery I have seen, the bottles are stored for aging individually in piles along the walls. This requires multiple opportunities to break them form the excessive handling, from the bottling line, to the storage area, back to the bottling line for labeling, and then into the shipping cases. The most interesting part of the tour was the tasting room (pictured here). I was not interested in tasting any Pulenta wines but I was very interested in examining the wall of Lujan dirt that comprised the room's longest wall.

The lunch is worth mentioning. The food was very good but the service, as noted by tasting team member PeeWee, was "indifferent". We ordered the 2004 Vistalba Corte B from the wine list ($31 US) which was anything but indifferent. Vistalba is one of many Pulenta's lines. Corte is the Argentine word for a blend. There is also a Corte A and C. Corte B blends 57% Malbec, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 13% Bonnarda. Blueberry flavors. Feel was luscious. Liked it mucho [ed. even with all the cab?] Made a note to buy it in LA. Price is $25. Corte A blends Malbec and Cab in more equal amounts, but the Corte C is the one I have to try. It is 85% Malbec and 15% Merlot which, in my view, is the better blend.

and now...at long last...the Valle de Uco...

Riding to the valley is kind of like driving from LA up the backside of the California Sierras to Mammoth Mountain, except the ride is much shorter. We head south form Mendoza on Highway 42 which is like Route 66 in that it traverses the country at its longest points, north to south. Rustic, low scrub chapparal, two lane blacktop. You know you are in the boonies when the Difunte Correa and Gauchito Gil shrines start showing up alongside the road. Here is another website about Difunte Correa, the "unofficial" national saint who, along with Gil, is not recognized as divine by the Catholic Church. We crested a long hill and there was the valley with its spectacular mountains that command your eyes to continually stare...until we hit the first bodega

Salentein is the Pulenta compound in spades. It is a posada, an art gallery and a bodega in three separate buildings each occupying its own acre in a triangle arrangement. The photo above shows the walk form the gallery to the winery. I wanted to stay here but could not arrange it. The bodega, like Pulenta, is underground, however, you could fit about six Pulenta facilities into this one. If you have ever visited the Medici Tombs you have an idea of the scale and spectacle. I had to ask the guide who was buried here. The place is stupefyingly stupendous.

The place is almost overwhelming with its multiple underground levels. Art is not just in the gallery but everywhere...inside and outside This piece is adjacent to the elevator door between hose storage and the "temple" storage room. Eventually - and we were in no rush - we arrived at the tasting room. Here is what they poured us.

2006 Salentein Chardonnay $17: High acid on the nose. Tastes like chardonnay with higher acid than I expect. No tropical flavors. 6 months oak. 14%

2003 Salentein Merlot$15: Black olive on the nose. Smoky. Not impressive. 14.5%

2004 Salentein Pinot Noir $17: Smoke on the nose. Meaty fruit like a thick fleshy plum. Some barnyard, lightweight. Too much alcohol. Surprising the fruit is so nice. 15.5%

Salentein's premium line is Primus, not tasted. I have found that Salentein wines are not easy to locate, at least in LA. This is a shame because they are very good value and decent wines. They offer a wide range of varietals, as well.

Bodega Andeluna is the creation of Ward Lay, of Frito-Lay. That is correct. The same man who brought the world cheet-ohs owns a world class winery in Valle de Uco. We had a fabulous experience here. This was our lunch stop and, unlike the other "premium" dining spot, this was the top stop for the entire trip.

We never did the bodega tour because lunching with Chef Pablo cooking and serving us was too much to hurry through. Because we took the premium tasting meal we did taste some really nice wines...and ate some truly special food...and had some excellent chatting with Chef Pablo. Here are the wines...Michel Rolland gets consulting credit. San Francisco Wine Exchange imports.

2005 Andeluna Chardonnay: Baking soda, and oak on the nose. Good acid. Taste the wood. Generic. 13.4%

2005 Andeluna Chardonnay Reserve: Faint hint of sulfur and minerals on the nose, green olives. Nice mineral flavors. Oak is way in the back. Lemon cream. Meringue. This is a chard I can drink! Grown at 4,000 feet with 12 months in French oak. 13.1%. Bravo!

2005 Andeluna Merlot: Rosy nose, floral. Asparagus emerges. Olives after several minutes. Fruit forward with tannic reserve. Flabby, too sweet (ripe) and fruity. Michel Rolland all over this wine. 14%

2006 Andeluna Malbec $8: Buttered popcorn. White pepper. Younger, spicy. Lean middleweight. Excellent. Rich. Chef Pablo loves this wine. At this U10 price it is a total bargain. 14.2%.

2004 Andeluna Malbec Limited Reserve: Spicy and light citric nose. Lighter weight than expected. Balanced nicely. Tannic. 18 months in new oak. Complex and structured in a purposeful way. Cognac flavors which means high alcohol. Some caramel on finish. 14.7%

2003 Andeluna Pasianado: Blend of 20% Malbec, 35% Merlot, 35% Cab Sauv and 10% Cab Franc. Smells great. Caramel on the nose. But it is jammy, some red currants, bologna, prosciutto. Has some weight, smooth going down. 14.7%

The Missus says it tastes a lot like a wine Jim Moore, or Bob Mueller, a couple of those under-the-radar Napa winemakers covered by tBoW, who have just been making great wines for a slew of folks over numerous decades. Jim's label is l'Uvaggio di Giacomoand he used to make a wine named Parador. Bob is the winemaker at McKenzie-Mueller, profiled on this blog several times.

Now if we can just figure out where to buy some!!

Hopefully, you have read the posts on bodega touring in Lujan and Maipu and Valle de Uco, dining and wining in Mendoza, and Argentine wines found and purchased in LA. Here is the list of the best wines tasted by the tBoW team in Mendoza. We have tasted other Argentine wines found in SoCal but they are not covered in this post. Where possible, I am providing the importer, distributor and retailer in LA or anywhere. Lets' get to it.

tBoW's TOP NINE WINES FROM ARGENTINA...

One more minute. Let me tell you about the best restaurant in Buenos Aires that is not a tourist steakhouse where we found #9...

Tomo 1 (uno) is on the second story above a cheesy hotel close to downtown Buenos Aires. The room has about 20 tables. A couple of sisters well past their 60s moved their San Telmo restaurant to this location in order to go upscale (and probably post higher prices in line with all the praise they received for their inventive and peerless dishes.) Moving from San Telmo is like going from the East Village to Midtown. At least. We had three long term memorable meals in Argentina, one in Buenos Aires. This was it. We ordered five desserts: 2 dulce de leches (the Missus still seeking close replication for Argentina's caramel classic); an apple tartane; and two desserts that sounded so incredible we had to try both. First, a scoop of arugula sherbet with cardomon ice cream on top. Outrageously good. Indescribable. I will forget my birth town before I forget this. Second, pink grapefruit wedges in a gewurtztraminer and pear soup. Served in a martini glass. Uncle Don would call it fruit cocktail but then he refers to cordon bleu as ham and swiss.

Number 1 (M.I.A.)
2003 La Azul Reserve $20: What can I say. The memory fades as time passes and I fear I may never again taste my blue wine. I have borrowed an image from a touring blog Lost on Purpose. Now I am just ill that we blew this tasting. Even though we had more time with Chef Pablo at Andeluna I do think we missed something special. Blend of Malbec, Cab Sauvignon and Merlot. Woman winemaker - Flavia Manterola - from Valle de Uco. 500 case production. Sweetness in the nose. Minty, reminds me of Phelps Insignia character. Nicely balanced. Has to be more Merlot than Cab. Tasted it twice in country. Great both times. 14.3%. We will never see it!!!

Number 2 (found it! In Virginia!)
2005 Bressia Monteagrelo Malbec $26: One of the top two wines tasted in country. Amazingly, I may have found it nearby (within 100 miles). 100% Malbec juice. Smooth and thick but not like syrup. Just viscous. Deep flavors of black cherry with some polished and buffed wood. Think mahogany. Beautiful robe. Delicious nose. Winner! Pay the front line! Just so you know, tBoW also tasted the sparkler 2006 Brut Nature and the higher priced red 2004 Profundo. The sparkler was very very good. Great value at $30 and 12%. The Profundo was bought off the wine list at the fancy Pulenta restaurant; $45 and 13.5%. Over-ripe, blend of mostly Cab, Syrah, Merlot and Malbec. Fruit and charcoal. I ordered this online from Virginia. Fran Kysela via Timeless Wines is bringing it into the USA. Having some trouble getting it all the way out here on the West Coast. Like flat screens...hard to find them way out here in the western region of the country.

Number 3 (found it in SoCal!!)
2005 Colomé Malbec $25: Colomé certainly was the most enchanting bodega and we never came close to it. I refer you to the videos posted earlier. Grapes grown at 7,000 feet and wine made at their Salta area winery owned by Hess. Blend of Malbec, Tannat and Merlot. Works beautifully. Solid middle weight as so many of these wines are. Rich red purple deep blood red robe. Easy nose with aromas of spice, Maipu-like citrus quality. Well balanced. Had it with classic asado fare (grilled meats and chimichurri). Perfect fit. Get it at Hi Time Wine Cellar in Coast Mesa.

Number 4 (Henry Wine Group has it and is allegedly distributing)
2006 Andeluna Malbec $10: Buttered popcorn on the nose. Pepper, younger wine. Lean and middleweight. Excellent. Rich flavors. Unbelievable value. Hope we can find it. We should be able to. My god...what if we can't??? 14.2%. San Francisco Wine Exchange brings it in. Good luck getting information from them.

Number 5 (trophy hunters alert!! Very very rare...)
2007 Achaval Ferrer Finca Bella Vista Malbec ~$150: This is the big ticket wine from Mendoza. Has the pedigree. Most sought after wine from the most prestigious house. Small single vineyard at 3,000 plus elevation. Not blended with lesser vineyards. Refined nose. Candy flavors. Elegant. Powdery vanilla (soft tannins). The real story is the 2005 and 2006 vintages were lost to hail. So the market is thirsty for this wine. TGIC Importers brings it in. Bound to sell out. Great wine if yagottahavit!!!

Number 6 (here in Costa Mesa!!)
2007 Colomé Torrontes $15: They have it at Hi Time Wine Cellar in Costa Mesa. Blow your mind. Yellow gold color. Maximim Grunhauser meets Chateau Grillet. This bottle needs time. Buy it now and wait six months. I cannot believe I am ranking it this low. I must be biased against white wines. This wine is burning a hole in my brain. 13%

Number 7 (it is here...somewhere)
2005 Luigi Bosca Syrah $11: One of the nation's biggest producers [ed. only 1.2 million cases] proves size does not matter. Not the Syrah I might expect. Lighter and more viscous than a Chateauneuf de Papes. More like a Tablas Creek red but without that Paso ripeness. Lighter than Paso. Makes me want to taste other Argentina Syrah wines. Spicy, pepper on the nose and first taste. Well balanced. Soft. Subtle. A lovely drink. The fact it tastes so nice suggests something special about the grape in the Maipu region where the vineyard is located. Of three wines tasted at this meal (Tomo 1) this was my favorite. 14.9% Golden State Wine distributes in California. No web site.

Number 8 (see Henry Wine Group note above)
2005 Andeluna Cellars Reserve Chardonnay: As Jack Paar used to say, "I kid you not". [ed. Who was Jack Paar you old fart? Here he is interviewing Jonathan Winters. I know who was...] Outstanding wine. The first chardonnay I have tasted in a LONG time that is memorable. Some sulfur on the nose, minerals, green olives. Not your Napa banana boat. No oak flavors. Meringue. Grown at 4,000 feet. 12 months in French oak. Michel Rolland consulting here. Henry rep says try Whole Foods. That would be convenient. I called my local. Never heard of it. 13.1%.

Number 9 (M.I.A.)
2004 Arnaldo B Etchart Gran Reserva Malbec: Another premium bottle from another monster producer Etchart. A Cafayate valley (Salta region) blend of Malbec (50%), Cabernet Sauv (30%), Merlot and Tannat. These are high altitude wines (5,000 feet). Rich, ripe but without the tobacco and leather nuances tasted in other "older" Reserve wines. Very rich and just ripe enough. Not darkly brooding like a Cabernet Franc or the weighty domination of a Cabernet Sauvignon. Oak and tannins present but muted. Even and balanced. Very good wine. Even the cab grows better in Salta. 14.5%

Bonus video:
While searching for the distributor or Arnaldo B Etchart I came across this video in which Arnaldo Etchart is interviewed at his Cafayate estate. It is in Spanish and I cannot see how to shrink the image. No matter. The video is worth viewing just to get a sense of what this northernmost region in Argentina looks like. The rustic environment reminds me of Guadalupe Valley in Baja California.

Click To Play

We visited the Gaudalupe Valley in Northern Baja Mexico. Drive south from Tijuana til you get about10 km north of Ensenada and make a hard left. When you get to San Antonia de las MInas (another 15 km) you are there.

We survived the tourist warnings about getting caught in the crossfire of narco gun battles or being kidnapped by marauding gangsters. We did not even see Chupacabra.

There are much better sites that present this region than I can, such as this one at cliff.com. The Guadalupe Valley is Mexico's wine region. It is rustic. One paved highway traverses the east-west valley. Make a left or right and you are driving on dirt. The valley is not at any significant elevation although it is bordered north and south with peaks that look like 1,000 feet.

The valley width is probably 10 miles. Length is 20 miles. It is R-U-S-T-I-C. No Ferrari Carrano or Coppola gift shops. That said, there are two monster wine facilities: Casa Pedro Domecq (Presidente Brandy) and LA Cetto. Each produces more than 1 million cases of mostly plonk annually. LA Cetto is a popular family destination. We bought the olive oil.

If you like isolation and quiet you will love the Villa del Valle; a handsome estate with 6 guest bedrooms. Call it a B&B but it really is more elegant. You get there riding a road ruddier than Russel Crowe's face. This is mountain bike country for the cruisin' set. Fire roads, hills, aerobic workout. Followed by the late afternoon wine hour.

No phones. No newspapers. No TV. Wireless so one is not completely out of touch. Bring books, an MP3 player and a camera. Or just hang out an enjoy the hilltop views across the valley. An island of cultured civility in a rural rustic valley. And Phil is building a very nice and representative selection of local wines of which his are among the best.

But is it a true wine destination? Maybe not quite yet. Do not let that put you off. There are ~40 wineries. New planting from one year ago says something is growing. We tasted wines from four vignerons trying to make something happen. You decide.

Liceaga: New roadside facility. Conventional aspirations. Known for their Merlot. Met Steve Dryden in the tasting room. He was dropping off the Baja Times with a couple of his columns. He moved here five years ago from Paso. Sees it coming. Wines are unremarkable. Of the majority group trying to grow Bordeaux varietals in a Rhoneisima region. They did have a grappa!

Vinisterra Winery: Nice couple runs this facility off the main road. A bit hard to find but what else we gonna do? We found them. New brick facility. Plans for a tasting room. Producing 4,000 cases with a goal of 6,000. Good plan. They have three lines that include a Grenache Rose, a Cab-Merlot blend and a Tempranillo. And they have a Syrah-Mourvdre blend. They are the Rhone Rangers al Sur. All young vines so they source alot from the two valleys to the older-planted south (San Vicente and San Tomas). Patti and Abelardo are going in a more interesting direction in terms of valley wines. We buy the high-priced bottle ($45!!) just to see what it tastes like. tBoW thinks the price point is all wrong but we liked the place and the idea of making their high-end line Rhone-style mucho. Good luck and think about the pricing.

Vena Cava: Our hosts at Villa del Valle have planted a couple acres on a southwest facing hillside. In the meantime he bought grapes from a local vigneron cherry picking exactly what he wants. We tasted three Vena Cava wines and liked them all. He sells them from the wine list. His second vintage from mature vines. All priced around $20 at the villa. Now doesn't that make sense?!? Terroir-driven.

2007 Chardonnay: Tastes more like a Chenin Blanc. No obvious oak and plenty of ripe fruit. Very nice. Mineral flavors enhance the wine.

2007 Sauvignon Blanc: Lemon lime nose and flavors. No grassiness or grapefruit. How refreshing. Unctuous. VIscous. Unfiltered so it has some dust in the bowl. Delightful. Think juicy Loire wine.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon: Citrus quality (like Argentina). Mid weight. Slightly sweet. Soft tannins. No tobacco or leather flavors thank you. No big oak thank you. Akin to the Tres Mujeres Cabernet. These three wines seem terroir-driven. Not trying to be something else from some other place.

Tres Mujeres: "Go up this road" says the missus. She has spied a hilltop winery (Rancho Mogrocito) that looks promising but when we get to the entrance the chain link fence is locked and the sign says (in English) by appointment only. So we continue a few hundred more yards until we arrive at a house with a ceramic hand pointing to an "artisan winery". The dozing hounds do not budge. It is wineries like this one that make Guadalupe Valley special.

Three women make wine at the home site of Ivette Vaillard. She is a pot thrower (the ceramicist who made the directional hand) and an accomplished artist. Not sure what the other two ladies do but they all love wine and so, like their neighbors, they make wine. She slips out of her apron and guides us to the entry to the wine cellar. In the tiny cave we tasted the ladies' three wines.

2006 Grenache $20: A blend of Zinfandel, Carignane and mostly Grenache. I was surprised to learn zinfandel was growing in the valley. "Our neighbors gave us our first cuttings. We did not what they were until a few years ago". Middle weight body. Fruity, not over-ripe. The Carignane gives sweetness. Zin is also there with a familiar prune flavor. A modern day "field blend" that she makes work. Gentle, warm, restrained like our hostess. Charming, unassuming, sweet. A woman's strength. This is her seventh vintage.

2006 Merlot $20: Caramel flavors found in the Vinisterra Merlot not showing here. Once again, not a knockout wine but a wine that seems to reflect the salt and mineral qualities of the soil. A wine I love? No. An effort I love? Absolutely.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon $20: Expecting the worst from a Cabernet grown in salty soil in a hot and dry region. BUT...we are surprised. Here is a cab that seems to represent Guadalupe Valley terroir. It does not taste like every other cab trying to taste like Napa or Bordeaux. In fact, I will bet if I put this in front of a snob pod they will be unable to not only peg it as Cabernet but to identify the grape at all.

These wines are only available at the winery which makes only 800 cases. Tres Mujeres is about making wine under tough circumstances. This is marathon winemaking. The soil and the heat are not even the greatest challenges. Check this out.

Ivette and her two fellow vignerons make wine about 100 steps uphill from the home on a make-shift cement pad with a trellis that they will cover during harvest and fermentation. She used to make the wines on the back porch. Their wines are only available at the winery. "Is there a white wine" I ask recovering my senses from trying to fathom the effort and love required to get it all done. "Oh yes. We make a Sauvignon Blanc but only enough to drink at home". Why? "You know it is too much work making white wine with temperature control. Always bringing more ice up the hill". I hear you sister.

We loved visiting with Ivette. She could not have been more accommodating and humble. We will return and we will visit once more.

We bought a bottle of each wine. Wish I had bought more. The Merlot and the Cab have labels. Ivette used a silver sharpie to inscribe her bottle with the "label". I am still grinning.

One of LA's most impressive wine cellars is behind this door.

Dinner with Carlitos and Alice means plowing through the finest classic Cabernet Sauvignon wines produced in Napa. You should know by now that tBoW is not a cab fan. As a good friend and winemaker once put it...Cabernet - a terrific blending grape.

On its own I find Cabernet Sauvignon to be too damn big. I recognize Napa makes what are probably the world's best Cabernet wines (so sorry Bordeaux) BUT...I said BUT these are wines for either trophy hunters at worst and/or people with steel plated palates at best. There are few blended Cabernet wines that I find appealing. tBoW found the Argentina blends of Malbec and Cabernet were the least interesting from that region, preferring Malbec and Merlot or even Syrah. In California styles, the most appealing Napa red wines are less than half Cabernet and preferably that quantity is closer to 30%.

No matter. When Carlitos opens his wine cellar, people of the Cabernet persuasion sit up and take notice. Even I am impressed with the depth of his stash.

He selected four wines for dinner at local Italian dining room Giorgios in Rolling Hills Estates. We could choose from a 1996 Beringer Private Reserve, 1998 MacKenzie Mueller, 2000 Phelps Insignia and 2004 Opus. The choice was not easy. The Insignia is closest to the blend I would have preferred but the millennium vintage is notoriously "off". The MacKenzie Mueller is a tBoW house favorite but 1998 is another vintage less than stellar. I will say I would bet the Phelps and the MM would be fine wines despite the weak reputation vintages.

We settled on the Beringer and the Opus. Like Indiana Jones ...we ...chose ...wisely.

1996 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon~$150: Big berry fruit right off the first pour. In the nose, on the tongue. Berry berry berry. Blackberries. Delicious. Pour some on your pancakes. Still tannic. Thought we might not need to decant but we did. A monster albeit a 12 year old one. Rich, straightforward. Half and half estate mountain fruit and valley floor. By the end of the meal - after a couple hours - it was kind of simple. I did appreciate the somewhat lighter alcohol. 13.4%

People do make a fuss over Napa wines. Here are some worthwhile tasting notes from a 20 year vertical of Beringer Private that took place in 2001.

2004 Opus One $175: The 2004 is a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Malbec. Supposedly this 25th vintage is the best Opus ever (like they don't say that every other vintage). This is perhaps the most widely held "collector's" wine. It has everything needed to be such. Pedigree of Bordeaux First Growth (yes, Baron Philipe had to wheedle his way inside the top 5) and Napa marketing genius. Oakville floor Cabernet blended with Mouton juice in Napa. With 20,000 cases produced there is just enough to sell out 6-packs at approximately $1,000 each to an audience waiting to show one off. font color="olive">[ed. snot nosed ingrate snob how was the wine dammit?]. The wine was outstanding. An absolutely stunning "robe", i.e., it was really pretty to look at. Balanced. Muted nose but intense flavors; also creamy. High toned say the notes. We did decant. Merlot shows off up front. Then the cab moves in and takes over. Cherries, red berries, some coffee. Much more elegant than the Beringer. Bruce Lee versus Chuck Norris. Kung Fu vs. Karate. A balled fist, or what was once referred to as an iron fist in a velvet glove. Iron fist in a velvet glove....medieval isn't it? 14.1%

Carlos has cases, not bottles, of these wines. His selection is focused on classic Napa Cabernets...Beaulieu Georges de la Tour, Sterling Reserves, Grgich, Montelena. Selection goes back to the 90s for all and into the 80s for some. Cases, not bottles. Now, about that Phelps Insignia....

Later that same week...

2006 Domaine Fouassier Quincy $14: This is Sauvignon Blanc from France's Loire Valley. Tastes nothing like California SB. No way no how. None of the grassy aromas and flavors. Clean super clean. Fresh. Kind of stoney but really not. Hey! I covered this wine in October 2007. Liked it then and like it now. How can you go wrong? Very fair price for a very straightforward wine that is very easy to enjoy. This was the second Quincy this week. Ordered the other off the list at Geoffreys in Malibu. Lovely setting but I know better beach views on the coast. A restaurant resting on its laurels for d-e-c-a-d-e-s. The online wine list (yes I tried to look up the Quincy) was from Autumn 2007. IGTY even the idea of an Autumn wine list irks me which makes me a hypocrite since I endorse the notion that wines are seasonal and being able to bring a wine matched to the season signals wine smarts. For tourists and the brain-dead only. 12.5%

2003 D Cubed Napa Valley Zinfandel $25: Overripe Napa juice AND it is a zin. Prunes meet figs. Rich, unctuous. Overripe. Tastes like zin. Not a fan with Franus Brandlin Zin the lone exception [ed. and you haven't tasted one of his wines in a decade]. Where does one begin with commenting on this wine? The words Napa Valley on the label are worth a 100% price bump. Doesn't make the wine any better. Just more expensive. The good news is the vintner kept the price below $30. Zin is not a terribly versatile grape. It seems winemakers have only two choices: rich and jammy or rich and overbearing. Franus manages a claret style that was nimble, light to medium weight and down-weighted the jammy prunes. And the final comment? 15.2%

2007 Root:1 $9: Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon purchased at Costco. Deep red robe. Pretty. Sweet black cherry flavors. Reminiscent of some Argentine Malbecs in the richness and simple approach of a satisfying drink. Has a story. Ungrafted Cab vines not grafted to phyloxera resistant root stock; "original European stock". Parker 90 points. Of course with flavors this forward and robust. Slight volatile acidity that is not quite a spritz but is tingly on the tongue. Nicely balanced, pepper mocha. Everyone liked it especially at the price. Alcohol level not outrageous at 14%.

The Perseid meteor shower in mid August seemed like a great excuse to return to the Villa del Valle in Guadalupe Valley, rest a bunch, watch the llueve de estrellas and shop in Ensenada and Rosarito. The Missus conspired to visit wineries we had missed the first time...and tBoW was impressed! This is harvest time so the vines are heavy with fruit.

We stayed once again at the Villa del Valle. Fast becoming our #1 getaway. Host (Phil) and hostess (Eileen) could not be more gracious and charming. Phil bottles his own very nice wines under the VenaCava label. He has a new distributor and will be shipping most of his 800 cases to Mexico City. Look for his production to increase creating even more pressure for high end fruit in the Valley. Eileen runs the VdV kitchen under the direction of Chef Omar. Top notch service all round. Omar has the right flavors in mind and ably delivers them to the satisfied diners.

2007 Vena Cava Chenin Blanc $25 on the VdV list: Cloudy in the glass as it is unfiltered. Fruity, pears, yeast flavors. Creamy with good acid. Bright, middle weight. This grape seems to do well in the valley. All wines are 11% to 12%

2007 Vena Cava Sauvignon Blanc: Banana nose and flavors. Unusual with good acid. Once banana blows off resembles more of a white wine from Languedoc, like a ripe Grenache Blanc. A good contrast to the Chenin Blanc. tBoW favors the Chenin.

2006 Vena Cava Chardonnay: Clear light yellow in the glass. First shows glutin and wood flavors, but it has no oak! Mrs. tBoW says the valley is not the right spot for Chardonnay. Strongest showing of saltiness in the soil typical of the region.

2005 VenaCava Tempranillo: Nice plum flavors. Has the salt water taffy flavors that come with the better made wines in the Valley.

2005 Vena Cava Petite Syrah: A crowd favorite for its heavyweight feel. Has sweet strength. Almost dessert style. The sweetness does bring out the salt.

The goal with Guadalupe wines is to neutralize the salty soil. Not such a simple task since the grapes also harvest very ripe. The most recognizable food that resembles this combo of salt and sweet is saltwater taffy. The flavor is not offensive. It is unique. You have to live on a the East or West coast to now what fresh saltwater taffy tastes like.

2002 Paul Lato Duende Gold Coast Pinot Noir: tBoW brought this wine. And even though we have reviewed this before we will do so once again. The wine is stunning. Nose shows beets (as before) and some funk right away that is not unpleasant. This blows off. The flavors are married very nicely. Cherry, cocoa, cola, mocha. Delicious. Gets better with the meal over an hour. This wine has emerged in the past 8 months. In a word? EXOTIC. 14.3%

These folks at the Villa del Valle are having too much fun! Phil has planted blue agave to make...you guessed it...his own tequila. More later on tequila. Join them and have your own fun.

Adobe Guadalupe is the only other place to stay in the valley. Styled as a Spanish Adobe it is grand and majestic while managing to remain tasteful. Wine production is about 6,000 cases. The best winemaker in the valley, Hugo D'Acosta, makes their wines. He also make wines for Casa Piedra and his own establishment Paralelo. tBoW did not taste Casa Piedra but did taste at Paralelo. We bought Adobe Guadalupe. The D'Acosta wines at ADobe G were excellent. He has managed the trick...subduing the salty soil allowing the fruit to come forward.

2007 Adobe Guadalupe Uriel Rosé $16: Tempranillo, Barbera, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Muscat in the blend in order of proportion. Is this Rosé or Chianti?!? form mt:asset-id="512" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;">It is fruity, floral, rich and masculine as rose's go. One of the most appealing pinkies tasted this summer. 200 cases. 11.1%

2005 Adobe Guadalupe Gabriel $32: 55% Merlot, 28% Malbec, 11% Cab Sauv and 7% Cab Franc. Where did he get the Malbec? That is a grape that should grow well here. This is the Bordeaux blend from which tBoW expected little at best. WRONG. Fruity and friendly. All Bordeaux should taste this balanced and show this much happiness. 13.4%

2005 Adobe Guadalupe Miguel $32: 80% Tempranillo, 15% Grenache, 5% Cab Sauv. The new style blend and closest we came to Rhone. There are two other blends, one of which is the Rhone style. Sold out of 1,200 cases. This works very nicely. The Tempranillo, which can be quirky, works very nicely here with the Grenache providing the bass to the Tempranillo tenor. 13.4%

Lucifer Tequila Blanco $22/750 ml: Fiery, smoke, strong, herbal character. Made from green agave in South Jalisco. 40 proof. This is not easy to find. As far as I can tell it is only available at the winery. It is made at one of the most reputable distilleries in Mexico. My tequila consultant (see below) tells me it is the same as a rare and exceptional tequila made at the same distillery.

The tequila hunt was stimulated by a conversation with the owner at Cantina Mayahuel in San Diego's North Park. The restaurant prepares authentic Mexican cuisine with the most fresh ingredients including fresh squeezed atun for your purple and absolutely delicious margarita. [ed. atun is Spanish for tuna which is the name of the egg-shaped fruit of the prickly pear cactus the size of an ostrich egg that must be handled with great care] The place really is a shrine to tequila and mezcal with more than 100 tequilas on hand, pretty evenly represented across Blanco, Reposado and Añejo. Larry cleared up a bunch of Margarita and tequila confusion such as using reposado and not blanco in the margarita. Then he gave me a couple suggestions for tequilas I might hunt down. Very friendly. Cantina Mayahuel earns tBoW's highest recommendation.

To summarize...the wines from Adobe Guadalupe are the most consistently fine wines we have tasted to date in Guadalupe Valley.

Baron Balché is up the road from Adobe Guadalupe. We are on the northern side of the Valley, a new area for us. The Baron is Mexican owned and operated. The winery - 10,000 cases - sells a premium line of six or seven wines that are triple digits. We did not taste any of these. We did taste the first line which was ordinary and offered nothing to write home about.

The third winery we visited was Paralelo. The property is owned and operated by Hugo D'Acosta. His brother Victor, an architect, has designed a supremely utilitarian building that is made of adobe & cement, and is striking to look at. Get up close and you will see the tire prints in the adobe walls. The tire prints are more than whimsical as you can see from the image at top of this post that tires are ubiquitous in the Valley and a part of many vineyards [ed. think Huraches?].

We tasted with the Assistant Winemaker, Alberto. He was refreshingly candid about wine making in the Valley. He believes the future of winemaking in Guadalupe Valley is with Rhone style grapes (Mrs. tBoW could not stop patting herself on the back having drawn the same conclusion during her first visit 18 months ago!!). However, one cannot simply pull up all the 30 and 50 year old Cab, Merlot and Zin vines and start fresh. Little by little. The region is simply too hot and not well suited for Bordeaux vinifera like Cab Sauv, Merlot, etc. tBoW suggested Rousanne, Marsanne and some Grenache Blanc.

There are microclimates in the Valley and D'Acosta is experimenting with these (as we tasted). The oak program is first class blending French and American. Alberto has his won recently acquired property and will be planting Rhone grapes like Mourvedre and Grenache. He thinks the climate is not well suited for Syrah. tBoW looks forward to tasting his first bottling!

Like at Adobe Guadalupe, Paralelo fruit is all estate grown.

2007 Paralelo Emblema: In bottle. Sauvignon Blanc that tastes like new world Sauvignon Blanc, as in grassy with grapefruit. But also old world as in not yet ripe lemon with enough acid to bring to mind a recent steely and super crisp Basque white wine. 11.8%

2007 Paralelo Estacion Porvenir: In bottle very recently. 40% Petite Syrah, 20% Cab Sauv, 20% Zinfandel and 20% Barbera. 8 months in barrel. Yes, there is quite a bit of Zinfandel grown in the Valley. This is the Linne Calodo blend. Works well. Porvenir is the name of a local village. [ed. but you would never buy a wine that blends cab and zin!]

Then we tasted 2007s from the barrel. Here works the mad doctor.
2007 ensemble Arenal: Valley floor fruit. 50% Merlot, 30% Cab Sauv and the rest Petite Syrah and Barbera. The Bordeaux blend. Fruity, earthy. Tannins mid sized.

2007 ensemble Colina: Hillside fruit. Same Cab and Merlot weights, finished off with Petite Syrah and Zinfandel. More tannic, sticks and stones, fruit buried behind oak.

2007 Valley Merlot: Earthy, veggies, fruit is there in front but set off by herbaceousness.

2007 Hillside Merlot: Good fruit, brawny, no veggie qualities.

2007 Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: Earthy, salty, more veggie qualities. Fruit is strong.

Conclusion? It appears Valley floor fruit has the strongest saltiness and is more herbaceous while Hillside fruit has more tannins, less herbaceousness, and stronger fruit quality.

The hillside vines we saw are not at such a high elevation that the effect is more than simply stronger drainage. Maybe the soils are different? Shoulda asked. Looks like another trip is required.

As for the meteor showers...the sky was clear but the moon was half full and did not set until 0230. Pretending we were Valley vinifera we caught a handful of streaking meteors until the cool ocean fog rolled over us, then turned in like good little Rhone grapes that will one day replace all the Cabernet!

September and October are transition months in the wine calendar. We leave behind the summer wines - the Rosés, Moscati and lean and frothy acidic white wines from Austria to the Basque country. It is football time and that means red wine. The Trojans have begun their march to another championship [ed. cue Conquest please] with the obligatory loss to a bottom dweller. The tBoW team has opened some interesting reds with greater success. Here are some bottles that recently popped their corks celebrating the change of season.

Tillie Claret $20: Purchased at Aramenta Cellars in the northern Willamette Valley (north of Dundee Hills and west of Portland). The winery is first and foremost devoted to Pinot Noir. They also produce Chardonnay. Total case production is 1,000 of which 250 cases were Tillie in 2005. The 2006 vintage is the first wine labeled as vintage. The bottle I had was probably 2005 juice blended with 2004. The wine is very interesting tasting like mocha coffee in the most milkshake way. Creamy, frothy, rich. A gift and quite rare, this wine is a real treat. Turns out Brick House is also in the Ribbon Ridge AVA.14.1%

2000 Phelps Insignia $120: Big ticket Napa Meritage with all the collectible pedigree anyone could desire in a premium Napa winery. Even the squat Sedrick Ellis shaped bottle demands immediate comment and admiration. The Insignia label has a long history of producing outstanding if sometimes idiosyncratic wines. The 1985, for example, was remarkable for its minty flavors [tBoW puts on his wine snob cone cap]. This 2000 edition is still young. Lots of berry, black cherry, some cinnamon and milk chocolate. The earthy Cabernet at 77% is balanced with 18% Mertlot. The wine is delicious. 20,000 cases! 14.1%

2004 Saxum Bone Rock $60: The blend is 85% Syrah, 12% Grenache, and 3% Mourvédre. The winemaker is Justin Smith. The vineyard is Bone Rock which is owned by James Berry Smith (yes they are related, Pop and Son). I am linking to an excellent review from Gang of Pour of the vineyard and wines that feature Bone Rock and James Berry fruit, and regional wineries that produce wines from these vineyards. The nose was veggie like arugula. Bitter and sharp. Made tBoW a bit nervous as Paso has always been notorious for its vegetable qualities. This blew off in 5 minutes. The flavors showed none of that. Ripe blueberry and blackberry fruit. Soft tannins. This is a vintage to drink early. Love that. Quite the delicious wine that blows away the recent big ticket cabs and cab blends (which are nice and impressive but I will take the Saxum even at the U20-busting price). Amazingly, the alcohol was not detectable even at 15.8%!!!

I have begun to think of my cellar as a bunker. Members of the tBoW tasting team seem to share this view. The Act of Purging is as essential as other necessary functions that keep a storage center clean. We don't want "impacted" cellars. Here is what the Venice tBoW tasting team came up with recently at a hosted dinner on a balmy winter Saturday night in LA.

NV Moet & Chandon White Star $30: Who buys this wine? I am guessing I had my last bottle of White Star more than 20 years ago. Probably longer but who's counting? I might have been counting if I remembered the marque wine of Moet as having distinct lemon and pear flavors backed with a clear and firm spine. Rich and a bit sweet. Is it worth $30? Probably because I am hard pressed to think of another $30 champagne that would produce something supposed to be consistent this consistently (that is what a marque wine is supposed to do). Check out the smarmy corporate marketing video here. Who made this? Hammer Studios? tBoW liked the wine and encourages you to lower your snob quotient and accept any pours you may be offered this holiday season. Widely available at Kirkland Nation (aka Costco).

2005 Tablas Creek Roussanne $24: They make this wine in two styles. This is the "traditional, i.e., French" one. A bit smoky, aged in oak. Firm with pear and melon fruit flavors. Actually restrained and needing time to open a bit. Only 600 cases. 14.3 %

2006 Arnaud Gaujal Picpoul de Pinet $13: Value wine from the value region of Southwest France. We do not need a recession to recognize there are wines from the Languedoc that are and have been great finds for years. Delightful bright and fresh. You cannot go wrong with this wine. Serve it with salad and it holds up to any dressing I can think of [ed. the white wine acid test]. I know this will read wrong BUT the nose and flavor reminded me of shaving cream. A bit soapy but that is the dryness. Well balanced. Nothing out of sort. A tBoW bargain and I would buy it if I saw it. 13%

2000 Ch Petit-Figeac St-Emilion Grand Cru $40: Here is (one of) the problem(s) with Bordeaux. You can't tell the all-stars from the journeymen. Case in point. Chateau Figeac is a big hitter. Highly collectible (if you collect Bordeaux). And a St Emilion which is at southern end of the Girond and mostly if not all Merlot. But there are only about another dozen OTHER wines with the name Figeac. There is Franc Figeac, Yon Figeac...enough to confuse the Figeac family not to mention the unsuspecting consumer. This particular Figeac wine is from the 2000 vintage that actually delivered on the century wine hyperbole. Everybody buy now! The wine was tasty. Needed time to open up but then that is pretty standard with Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot-Cab Franc blends from Bordeaux. Drink enough of them and you will pine for the good old easy going big and blowsy Napa versions. You have to like Cabernet a lot to buy these wines. And you have to like the French style which means sit and wait 10 years or an hour. 13%

1998 Ch Blanzac Cotes de Castillon $20: Another uncelebrated (at least outside France and England) region near Bordeaux. This is another problem with Bordeaux wines. Wine collectors who wish to impress ASAP with their wine knowledge can easily "master" the First Growth wines of Bordeaux. There are only five. Too bad the 1st growths are so pricey because what good is newfound knowledge without opening the stuff you are touting? Of course, as in most of France (as well as Spain and Italy not to mention Austria and Germany), there is plenty of very good wine in the less heralded corners of the region. Mastery in the petit regions of Bordeaux, however, is another matter. Like studying for the LSAT. tBoW and Dotoré long ago realized if one is going to study wine then one may as well study the OTHER region of France with equally difficult lessons and infinitely greater rewards. That would be Burgundy. This nice Merlot was tight upon opening even at 10 years and even though from the unglamorous Cotes de Castillon. So chances are it was well made. It never had a chance to open because our host sucked it down like a sandworm hunting spice. He said he liked it. Urp. 13%

The dinner was Cassoulet which is a typical dish in the Languedoc. The red wines typical of Languedoc are Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. tBoW taster Tootsie usually does it up pretty good.

Election night and Mr. & Mrs. tBoW are at Casa Dotoré watching the inevitable results roll in. Teary eyes brimming with joy as compulsive critics made assessments of TV bombast; each network attempting to capture more viewing eyes with "spectacular" sets and grander gimmicks.Kind of like trophy wines!!

The most "spectacular" TV piece was Wolf Blitzer's hologram interview of Will.I.Am. Sorry. I could only find Jessica Yellin. Not sure what this accomplished other than "cool". Remember when Wolfie broadcast from the roof of his Baghdad Hotel in 1990 as Desert Storm kicked off? Low-of-the-low tech videos with a night vision camera looking out his hotel room window...and it was riveting. Hmm.

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In 2008 Wolf worked the CNN and CNBC shared set. The photo at top does not do justice to the red white and blue color scheme that was probably best appreciated in the company of Hunter Thompson. But he's dead.

The "big winnah" was CBS who tricked out the Rockefeller Center ice rink as an election map. Now that was a cool idea. It is good to know some creative folks find a way to do something fabulously goofy on a national stage.

It was a night to remember for the outcome...and the wines...but it was all over before we popped the champagne. We went ahead with our plan anyway. Y'know we had a feeling.

2003 Clape Cornas $80 to $100: Been holding onto this one awhile. Dotoré said bring something that would celebrate and commemorate the Obama Rama Lama Ding Dong. This was tBoW's selection. And it did not disappoint. Syrah from one of the top three Southern Rhone winemakers, and possibly the least known in the USA but well known inside the neighborhood. Read about Clape here. Extracted says Dotoré. A soft wine at peak level. Very well developed. Slightly tannic and even somewhat rustic. Not much of a nose. Unpolished but with depth and appeal. Top of the crest. Will open and can still go further. I would like to find it again. Worthy of the evening. 14%

2000 Ridge Montebello $120 today: The classic Bordeaux blend - 75% Cab Sauv, 23% Merlot - from Santa Cruz and their flagship [ed. premium] label. The 2000 vintage disappointed those who wanted "commemorative" century wines, but not at Ridge. His top brand was one of the best among the notable Cabernet blends in 2000. The wine is showing mentholatum with lean and intense flavors. The wine is high toned as usual. Perfectly balanced. A California wine all the way and the best our state has to offer. When wine writers wax nostalgic about Napa reds they always include Ridge Montebello as a "first growth". tBoW and Dotoré have been blessed to taste Montebello in many vintages and it never disappoints. Even works with the BBQ. 13.4%

Michel Turgy NV Blanc de Blancs Réserve Selection Brut $45: Yeasty nose, citric flavors. Has vanilla cream. Toasty quality which is always nice. Creme brulee and lemon rind. Perfect for dessert. Liked this bottle alot. 100% Chardonnay.

So that was election night. Now all we have to do is get through the next 24 months.

Turn tough times to good times. Purge the cellar. Hold onto cash. As with everything there is risk. Cellar purging has the risk of finding forgotten wines. The last thing we need today is another letdown.

Feces occurs so often that when it does we think in familiar ways, like why we thought the wine would be GOOD. Good pedigree (Alejandro Fernandez), good score (Parker 91), good story (bottled only in the BEST vintages). How did we lose sight? How did we let a good wine go bad? Here is my story.

1996 Alenza ~$60: Once upon a time this was a great tempranillo. Highly touted. Soft and smooth like a...like a...complete that on your own. Blame it on tBoW. He sat on it too long. As I pull the cork I pray this one will tell me the other 2 bottles were corked. Painful truth. The wine is just over the hill. Like a Republican candidate. Dies faster than a vampire born with a stake in its heart or a November World Series. Within minutes it tastes tired, gnarled. Like it just wants to fall into the abyss without notice. [ed. getting a little dark here] The real bad news is I still have 3 bottles. Family holiday gifts!?! 13%

Another equally maudlin story is a one-hit-wonder wine always on the fringe, in the periphery. A notorious loner. Like the Shangrilas (who had a string of hits) said "he's good bad but he's not evil". Tell me mo' tell me mo'....


2003 Melville Verna's Syrah $56: Bought this bad boy at the winery just as tBoW was beginning to fall out of love with Santa Rita Hills wines. Sterno alcohol levels were not yet the baccio dela morte that killed the romance. This is the second bottle tasted in 24 months. Tastes a lot like the first one which is pretty good! Jammy to be sure. Dark dark fruit. Coffee flavor. Distinctive like Melville says. The 100 acre vineyard is not located in Santa Rita Hills proper but rather outside the tine town of Los Alamos (click here for clarifying map), on the way to Santa Maria north and east of Santa Rita Hills. There is plenty of good growing turf outside SRH. We wish other local winemakers would adopt Paul Lato's point of view that the regional fruit is big enough and should actually be toned down! This wine, however, reflects the prevailing POV where bigger is better. Not quite bombastic, the Melville wine would not look out of place under the wing of an Apache Longbow. As we threw down the mother-of-all-over-the-top-wines we wondered what would the Kenneth-Crawford team (aka Kings of Extraction) do with Verna's fruit? You can find out yourself. Their current release includes a $34 Verna's Syrah which is actually good value for the region. The ankle bracelet is extra.

Every motley crew has one decent player. In this group it is a wonderful Italian white wine that Costco carried all summer. [ed. imagine an entire generation only knows Motley Crüe the Hollywood band. Click here if you MUST see the Dr. Feelgood vid]

2007 Falanghina dei Feudi di San Gregorio $10: Coco-nutty and floral nose with key lime flavors. After lying open a few days it tasted nuttier and just as good. Great value. The story: only the "free run" juice goes into the bottle. The varietal is Falanghina. The vineyard has 20 y.o. vines. Viva Italia and viva Kirkland once again. 12.9%

2002 Marques de la Concordia Signa Reserva $16: We will be seeing more of these kinds of wines. Gelsons Market special. A Mrs. tBoW impulse buy. How bad can it be? Well, tBoW is not fond of Tempranillo. I find it to be fairly undistinguished among red wines. Fruity, moderate flavors. Middle to heavy weight. This wine is 100% Tempranillo, aged in the high profile oak program. A bit overripe for my taste. Nice enough but I know there are better wines to be had out there. Like the next one. Aged in new French and American oak. Six years later the oak has given up the fight and the raisiny fruit has won. Worth $8 so at this price it is overripe and overpriced. 13.5%

2001 Marshall Cellars Juliet Peery $10: Now this is the kind of deal we are actually looking for...and expect to see more of. A good wine that went bad because nobody would buy it at the posted price. Don't blame the wine. 1500 cases of this vanity project with a bottle you can heft to the oldies. And so handsome! Wide at the shoulder, tapering down to the punt. Clean label design quietly announces its presence. Recommended release price $55. What do you think Whole Foods had to pay to put this out at $10? Marshall had several hundred cases still in warehouse from a phenomenal vintage and said "get rid of it". Lucky for Whole Foods and lucky for us. To quote
Dotoré the Discoverer "it's the kind of wine you can take to a holiday party and nobody will know you paid $10". Sometimes he is so shallow...but always correct. Because the wine is good. Eight years later the Bordeaux blend still has legs after several days with just a cork in the bottle of steel. Napa floor and Carneros hills fruit with serious tannins that have mellowed but remain present, if less feisty. Great Napa premium flavors with enough Merlot and Cab Franc (24% combined) to keep the Cab in its place. 14.3%

The Holidays are over. Everyone breathe a big sigh. Eleven months before the intense commercialization begins again. Dotoré already senses the approach of a long summer. The best thing about the Holidays for a wine aficionado is the chance to taste stuff that would otherwise go unnoticed, even avoided. There are always surprises. Here were a few of the last we encountered.

2002 Elevage Stags Leap District Napa Valley Red Wine $70: Why why why? Another Meritage with rich Napa fruit that is not quite in balance and is priced way beyond its relative quality. There used to be a modest if unnecessary 9-hole golf course on this property now planted to modest if unnecessary vinifera. This is the winery's Bordeaux blend, something once known as a Meritage - is that term still in use? tBoW opened this alongside three 2005/2006 Beaujolais wines, a 2006 Gigondas and a 2005 Argentine Malbec; each around $20, light to medium weight, internally harmonious and at peace with the food. These other bottles were drained by red-wine-crazed VINpires [ed. VINpires - © that] and the Chimney Rock was shoulder-full four hours later. 14%

1983 Sigalas Rabaud Sauternes $16 in 1985 and about $80 online today: This is why you should come to this wine blog; to read about a rare and extra special late harvest French wine like this one. Note the original price tag on the bottle. Very few wine drinkers consumed sweet wines in the mid-80s and the same holds true today. This wine is stupendous. Incredibly rich, definitely liqueur-like in its intensity. Rich ripe peaches drenched in honey. Pooh Bear would flip out. Golden brassy color. Thick. Spectacular. The wine is absolutely perfect right now. You can be sure there are not many wines that can go 25 years and hold it together like this. Naturally we must compare it to the 1983 Y'Quem opened over Labor Day. The Y'Quem was still young. This wine is ready. Otherwise, these wines are equally wonderful in what they present. Testimony to a truly special vintage. 13.5%

Thoughtful recess: Why is it more wine drinkers do not enjoy dessert wines? This is perennial question ignores the principles of price/quality relationship. The two wines above illustrate the good fortune for those who know better. The Sauternes is from one of the top vintages in the past quarter century. The Napa blend is from an ordinary vintage. There must be about 100 times as many Napa cabs available like the one reviewed as there are quality Sauternes, Barsacs or Cadillacs. Read this enlightening piece from a fellow blogger that articulates the differences. In the matter of Chimney Rock vs. almost any old Sauternes, the Napa blend wine is difficult to distinguish according to most criteria while the other is distinguished simply in terms of limited availability. The same is true for Port. The exception within dessert wines as a class is Auslese level Rieslings considered by some to be the choice when you-can-only-take-one bottle-with-you. You do need a crowd to finish a 750ml bottle of French sweet wine but tBoW can only think of a very few with whom he might share his 1983 Maximin Grünhaus Riesling Auslese. 14.5%

2006 Alma Rosa Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir $29: Richard Sanford rises like the phoenix with his new Santa Rita Hills winery. This is a modest effort, fruity and straightforward, cherry flavors. As notable as the wine are the screw cap and the low alcohol. 13.9%

2006 Nagy 2 Garey Ranch Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir $30: Winemaker form Byron Vineyards. Husband and wife tram from Byron and Bonacorsi, respectively. Low production, interesting wine worth a plunge. Masculine style, dark color, dense liquid. Somewhat feral, slightly rugged and sinewy. High toned fruit, plums, dark fruit. Quick finish. Finally a good pick from the new local store! Nice. 14.5%

2004 Cargasacchi Pinot Noir ~$40: This is the first Cargasacchi 2004 Pinot Noir tasted and his first release. Peter C is a grower whose grapes are highly coveted by California's foremost Pinot Noir winemakers. He does not appear to release the wine to critics for scores. Good. Peter's wines under the Point Concepcion label are fairly forward while remaining distinctive. Mrs. tBoW once described the nose on a young PC Syrah as reminiscent of her hair salon. Hold that yech. It was not bad. Just funky. The eponymous label is more serious. tBoW tasted and reviewed the 2005 version in a former post. The 2004 is stylish, almost elegant. Formal. Structured. Moderate smokiness, strong dark fruit. Bacon fat and tannic. Seductive and masculine. If Point Concepcion expresses Peter's playful and quirky side then the Cargasacchi label is all about his very serious and intensely focused persona. He will probably be upset I did not use the label image from his website. Glad I am holding several more bottles. If you would like to sample Peter's wit click here. 13.7%

Allimant-Laugner Cremant D'Alsace Rosé $16: Steal of the holidays. Fresh, sweet. Pink and brass color. Cherry fruit, pomegranate too (acidity). Tart. Loving this. tBoW made the commitment to half a case. Found it at Palate Wine shop although K&L also has it (for a couple bucks more!!). 12.5%

2001 Cap de Faugeres Cotes-de-Castillon $20: Picked this one up at the new Wine Cask "outlet" in our neighborhood [ed. parent is in Santa Barbara]. The Wine Cask was never about its international selection. However, there seems to be a move afoot to enter the U20 market. The buyer has yet to impress with the U20 selections. Internet notes for this wine describe a dense, dark wine when released in 2002. Tanzer reviewed it and liked it kind of. Scored it 85-ish which is kind of OK. Six years later it remains a serviceable drink. Nothing great. Here is what tBoW thinks of as he sips this wine. How many richer, fruitier Napa wines are there (it is a cab blend) that are no more memorable and pricier. Two for two for the locals. 13.5%

This weekend June 13 & 14 consider doing the Topanga Canyon Artists' Studio Tour. It is tBoW's favorite summer event. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Topanga home you would never see except for this tour pictured below.

As we roll into summer you may enjoy a runup in invites to dine al fresco with friends and acquaintance. tBoW encourages using such occasions to raid the hosts' wine cellar. Why be just polite when you can also be rapacious? [ed. Mungo Jerry signals the official arrival of another LA SUMMER]

The scene is a Memorial Day last minute dinner at the home of good friends. The offer is to pull anything you like from the cellar. We came up with a Bordeaux and a Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir. Not bad!

2002 La Tour Haut Brion $50 online: A holiday gift from someone in the same business as our host. Meant to impress. At 7 years old it is still young and showing tannins with plenty of Cabernet Franc fruit. The wine is very nice and since we rarely drink Bordeaux wines this is certainly a treat. Goes perfectly with the grilled steaks. It is impossible to write about Bordeaux wines without giving some background. The region is almost universally the introductory wine experience for wine snob novitiates. Bordeaux wines have the right features for newbies: "unquestioned" pedigree, comparatively few labels, prestige pricing, and decent wine. In some cases snobs-in-training start with California. What is interesting is how many wine-os never move past Cabernet Sauvignon thereby becoming faux snobs. For the record, LA Tour Haut Brion is the "second" label for La Mission Haut Brion. This means the wine is made from young vines (figure under 10 and probably closer to 5 years) and is not permitted in the premium batch. For an absolutely classic and haughty article on the Haut Brion wine scene click here.

2006 Aramenta Reserve Pinot Noir $43: Aramenta is the adjoining property and neighbor to Ayres, lauded in the recent Oregon Pinot Noir reviews. tBoW has had Aramenta in the past and enjoyed even though he found it too sweet to purchase it was not so sweet he would turn it down. This is from the ripe 2006 vintage. It is dark red but still not so dark to be mistaken for something other than Pinot Noir or Gamay. Sweet, burnt brown sugar. Kinda big. Would like to try this again in a year's time.

2006 H Pinot Noir $20: We did not get to pick this wine. It was offered as an example of the expanding ocean of "high end" wines now reduced and hitting the consumer market like bugs on the Interstate. Formerly $50 he picked up this H Pinot Noir for $20. The story is "right" with 198 cases and "hand-harvested" Sonoma fruit. Of course, good value requires two components: price and quality. The alcohol is way too high for this Sonoma wine produced and bottled in Paso Robles. The fruit that is there cannot fight its way past the ethanol curtain. Not to be confused with Oregon's Hamacher H wine from Willamette Valley. Or Macy's bedding line with the same logo. 15.55%

2007 Domaine du Vissoux Pierre-Marie Chermette Fleurie Poncié $20: This is the first Cru Beaujolais tasted from this vintage. tBoW flipped over the village Beaujolias from the same producer in the tBoW review last August. The contrast is striking. The cru wine is more intense overwhelming any of he other components such as alcohol and tannins. It is big and fruity. Word to Dotoré: While this Beuaj is very nice now tBoW looks forward to trying it again in a year. Reminds me of the 2006 Jean Paul Thévenet Morgon "Vieilles Vignes" that showed so much better one year later. $13%

The host made up for the BBQ-lighter Pinot Noir with a Canadian sweetie available at BevMo.

2006 Jackson-Triggs Proprietors Reserve Vidal Icewine $16: Out comes a specially packaged tube of Canadian late harvest something. Shows bright acid with ripe apricot and mango flavors. Very nice and refreshing. The region is Niagra and the grape is a 1930 hybird known as Vidal Blanc, named after the bio-engineer who crossed Ugni Blanc with Rayon d'Or to get a cold weather high sugar varietal. The bottle at 187.5 ml is the tiniest ever seen outside an airplane. A very good U20 dessert wine. 10.5%

LA the city as brasserie. Flames fan the hills. Corks get pulled. Once for Dotoré's 60th. Again for RB's departure. Friends mix, barely familiar. Zins and Cabs here. Pinot Noirs there. Fruity whites cross all snob lines. Wine greases the wheels. Everyone loosens up. Even the tighties. Almost everyone. Birthday boy pulls the cork on two Melville bad boys. tBoW pops a double mag and a 26 year old port. Different fetés. Same classic soul mix with 60's thrash. Dotoré and tBoW the only fans.

So what got poured...it's all right here.

1997 Ca' Moreis Sandro Fey $50 (jeroboam): Poor man's Barolo from the region's best producer. Middle weight Nebbiolo from the Italian Alps. Not meant to age so no wonder the color is brown and red brick. Coffee nose, herbal flavors. Soft, lean. Balanced, spicy. A perfect night to pull this cork. 13%

2009 Crios Torrontes $12: Susan Bilbo's classic white from Argentina. Drink it now. Fresh cantaloupe in a glass. Cousin Gar asks if it is Viognier crossed with Riesling. Nice instincts. Every new winemaker should start with Torrontes - the wine you can't screw up. 12%

The guests will eventually dictate the wine lineup so you know in advance what you'll be tasting. At the birthday this meant a descent into big fruit Napa wines...and a couple of bad boys from the Central Coast.

2004 Vincent Arroyo Entrada Napa Wine $65: Mostly Syrah (62%) with a solid Cabernet paunch 23% and a 15% Petite Syrah kick. The only big California grape left out is...that's right...Zinfandel. Carob flavors, i.e., dark chocolate. Thick, heavy weight. Reaching for the Silver Oak style. Not much tannin. Heavy wines should have tannins or they come off mushy. Are you ready for the sex girls? 14.3%

2005 Quintessa $55: Big ticket Napa Bordeaux blend. Lots of Merlot in the mouth. Soft delicious fruit. Balanced. And mushy. 14%

2002 Melville Carrie's Pinot Noir $60 (at winery on release): The LEGEND. The wine Dotoré had to have or be hounded by fever dreams. This isn't wine. It's MMA in a bottle. Seven years ago it was brutal, nasty, ready to take off your head. Now it is somewhat weedy. The fruit has yielded to the alcohol. All that's left is vanilla from what must have been a thorough oaking. Deliciously stupid. 16.1%

2002 Melville Carrie's Syrah $55: A wine only an investor could love. I like to imagine this is the wine that drove the family apart. Like it's sister the Pinot It is just huge. Together these bottles are the Williams sisters of wine. 16.1%

As though the fires in the hills extinguished and a strong ocean wined blew all the smoke somewhere over the desert...there was one more entry.

2006 Stevenson-Barrie Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $32: Cuzzin Gar slipped this one in honoring the Pinot lovin' Dotoré. After having our palates carpet bombed this excellent Oregon wine helped tBoW re-calibrate. Coming from the fruity ripe 2006 vintage the wine actually fit in well. Creamy oak, smells and tastes like PN. 14%

What do you do when the "revenue river" decides he should redirect his course to the Middle East? Same thing we do every weekend. With a bit more subdued crowd, selfishly selected to suit tBoW's taste. The wine choices were more familiar. We skip the whites report except to say there were two goodies: a 2005 Macon Village from Kermit Lynch, matched with a 2005 Dirler Pinot Gris from Alsace. Both were quite pleasing, a cut above and U20s.

2006 Williams Selyem Westside Road Neighbors $100: The first time tBoW has tasted this blend of Russian River premium Pinot Noir. Tannic, exotic, viscous, Plums and blueberries. This was an exciting bottle. The most notable WS tasted in quite a while. 14.2%

1996 Rochioli Three Corners Vineyard $475 (?!?): The wine held form like we would expect from California's most collectible Pinot Noir. Sweet flavors, slight volatile acidity. Focused and balanced. Coffee and toffee flavors. 14.2%

1983 Smith Woodhouse Oporto $35 in split ($9 sticker!): Wow. Port in a split makes such sense. It is so hard to finish a 750 ml bottle at the end of a meal featuring great wines. You have to have 8 solid citizens to make a dent. But, a split is just perfect. This wine was smooth, soft, with stuffing. Dark red, sweet but focused. Each pour was drained . Threw sediment in the split! A perfect port. xx%

I don't care how rich you are...you can't grow decent wine in LA. Besides, there are too many other reasons to not even try. The idea already failed 100 years ago when Southern California was the state's wine center. Most of the planting was northeast of the city in the high desert. Prohibition shut down the locals and the state's wine capital moved to north to the Central Valley, Sonoma, and Napa. SoCal never recovered...until now.

There are 150 new acres planted to vinifera in the Santa Monica Mountains representing 50 vineyards. Do the math...these are small plots. Who are these mad vintners? Growing vines and making wine is not like putting in a pool with a slide. Acreage under 5 acres makes it very hard to turn a profit since 1 acre will yield only 75 cases of wine. Undeveloped land in Santa Monica Mountains makes developers drool. Planting vineyards where they see condos or gated McMansion "communities" must drive them nuts. Be serious. You have to have money to burn to do this. And they do. They include actors and folks who sold a very successful business like the Cheesecake Factory or Lowes Hardware; or ran hedge funds or got rich selling helicopters. God knows. Some people say you get a tax break if you plant vines because that will throw your property into a lower tax bracket. But that is not why they are doing it. I think many of this new corps are wine snobs, grape geeks, the kind who say things like "great wine is not a matter of price but of availability".

So what about the wines? Visit Cornell Corner off Troutdale Road which is off Kanan Dume Road which is in the Conejo Valley which is one valley north and outside of Los Angeles...and find out. Now tBoW thinks Cornell is exactly the kind of cheesy name a developer would come up with. But it ain't. Cornell has been a three building outpost on the old stagecoach route more than 100 years. If you drive there over Mulholland Highway from Calabasas the way everyone once came it IS a long way. But if you take the 101 and exit at Kanan it's only 5 minutes on the way to the beach.

The new plantings are barely 10 years old. There is a big dog in the region, the Semmler property with just under 100 acres planted. They have their own tasting room and a cave with 300 year old Chumash cave paintings of the Spanish Portola expedition on horseback. They recently handed over the winemaking to a real winemaker so soon there will be more to do than see the cave.

tBoW visited the Cornell Winery and ate at the Old Place next door in a downpour which only added to the wonderful atmosphere of both settings. Cornell Winery is not a winery but a tasting room for local labels and gallery for local artists. The building, built in 1870, was refurbished by Denise and Tim, who own the "winery" and the restaurant next door. The restaurant is a local haunt having existed out in the boonies for more than 50 years before the new 101 was built in the 70s, when tBoW and the Mrs used to hitchhike the old inland road with two dogs. True story.

Cornell features Malibu and Santa Monica producers and vineyards. A few of the labels source juice from other regions, e.g., Santa Barbara and Lodi. However, the majority are home grown. Now, I Gotta Tell Ya, [ed. glowering above] there have been a few articles about the new winery projects. They are always portrayed as vanity deals which is easy to believe because the conditions for growing wine on this stretch of the California coast are not exactly ideal. The most notable "success" story is Rosenthal's Bordeaux blend which is a blueprint for what not to do; grow Bordeaux varietals, and price it like another "collectible" Napa fruit bomb. If Paso Robles is wrong for Cabernet Sauvignon then Malibu must be even worse. The Semler project has produced thousands of cases of very mediocre wine for 10 years. At least they have planted Rhone style grapes. One thing is absolutely certain...you cannot grow Pinot Noir where people surf! So what can we reasonably expect of more newbies working 1 to 5 acres? Smaller tragedies? Here is what we tasted. We were surprised.

2008 Rosenthal Surfrider Sauvignon Blanc $19: Edna Valley juice in a "New Zealand" style which means grassy. It is green and grassy. 10% of sales benefit the Surfrider Foundation which is very very nice. 14.4%

2008 Republic of Malibu Beach Blonde $22: The label name winner for Republic. The wine is 91% Chardonnay and the rest Viognier which is not really discernible. However, the wine is nice with a smoky nose, light gold color, buttery feel. Estate grown on two acres in Malibu. Tiny production. A very restrained and much admired 13.5%. Bravo!

2008 Republic of Malibu Rosé Pink Lady $19: Grown in Corral Canyon which has to be the same 2 acre vineyard, right? Chalky nose and flavor. IGTY likes it because it is not sweet. And that is correct. However, Mrs. tBoW likens the flavor to Kaopectate which is probably not where the winemaker was aiming. Not a bad wine but you can buy a lot of great Rosés for under $20. 13.9%

2007 Cantara Barbera $32: Juice from Lodi which is a long way from Malibu. The owners live in Camarillo which is close enough I suppose. Apparently, they do not have any Malibu plantings. They must be very friendly. For such a young wine it shows very little tannins. Instead the wine is soft and sweet. Tastes Italian. Denise says it is a great everyday wine for any meal. Yes but not at this price. Another much appreciated low alcohol wine at 13.5%.

2007 Milan Vineyards Maximilian $45: It was only a matter of time before we met a bottle named after a much-loved family member. It's like the group of people who buy paintings of landscapes and flowers. These vineyards are in Topanga Canyon [ed. tBoW loves Topanga]. This is a more sophisticated wine. It is an outlaw blend of 50% Merlot, 25% Cab Sauvignon and 25% Syrah. And it is grown in my backyard! Great mouth feel, silky smooth and well balanced. Medium weight, soft fruit but high alcohol at 15%. An impressive effort.

2006 Hoyt Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon $19: Off the map and off the web! But a wine with some age. And it tastes like Cabernet Sauvignon; meaty, chocolate, some veggie quality. Slight sweetness. Mrs. tBoW likes it. Our second U20. 14%

2005 Malibu Valley Vineyards Reserve Syrah $15: It's a vintner like this that gets tBoW excited. All his wines are $15 so people will try them! Brilliant! These new winemakers stuff their dog's beds with hundies so push the bottles out the door ferkrissake. And this is nice wine with a little age. Nice dark robe. Some BBQ sauce on the nose which I like. Some tannins which with the decent fruit shows it is trying to be serious. Taste the vanilla oak. Wonder how long? The hands down U20 winner! 13.6% makes it another big drinkability winner.

NV Saddlerock Old Vine Tawny Port $20: Saddlerock is the second label of Malibu Family Wines. This is a nice non-vintage wine. The oldest plantings on the Semler ranch are Cab and Merlot from 1987. Wonder what is in here. Nice nutty flavor with a caramel core. Nice wine. 19%

The Old Place is quite a place and definitely worth a visit. If you are coming to LA skip Universal Studios or Rodeo Drive and go here instead. Read about the former owner Tom Runyon and learn something about the way it once was in the Malibu Hills at the link above.

We bought two bottles at Cornell and toted them into The Old Place.

2007 Malibu Vineyards Vortex Sangiovese $39: The price is too high and tBoW got fooled by the vortex of Malibu winery names thinking this would be the $15 bottle by Malibu VALLEY Vineyard. The wine tastes like Sangiovese. It had that nice acidic backbone with a lean kind of sweetness. Mrs. tBoW does not like this style. It is Old World which is somewhat surprising for a New World wine. Light body weight. Had it after the killer wine of the evening which was tough competition. Great alcohol level...12.9%

2008 Malibu Sanity Pinot Noir Schetter Vineyard $42: Hey! I thought I told you to not even try to grow Pinot Noir down here ya knucklehead. IGTY said we had to buy this bottle. He was paying so tBoW said go ahead. There was every reason to expect something unusual...even bizarre. If you can't grow Pinot Noir in Paso Robles how can you grow it 200 miles further south? Well, put me in the barrel and stomp my fruit. This was very good wine. Pretty, light cherry red color. Delicate weight and delicately balanced flavors. Cherry style with bacon bits. So easy to drink. You have never had a Santa Rita Hills Pinot as light on its feet. Paul Lato makes sinewy if genteel wines that are still masculine. This is 100% girlie and completely charming. Think Juliette Lewis in Cape Fear. After dinner tBoW spotted a bottle of 1998 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche on the bar (empty) at the Old Place. I started up a conversation with Tim (proprietor in both entities) and mentioned the Sanity Pinot. "Oh yeah, that guy is a total Burgundy freak." Well no shit. 14.5%

One 2009 mega-trend (mega trends being mega trendy) - new local tasting establishments - (El Vino in Venice, 55 Degree in Atwater Village) has come to Santa Monica. Actually tBoW is a bit behind the 8-ball here since Pourtal opened in April 2009. [ed. call us hokey using their web image but it works] We visited the wine tasting bar in January to taste a couple more Malibu wines. Pourtal hosted a Malibu winery series in January. Maybe they will do it again! Of course, some of the Malibu wines are available for tasting any time...because Pourtal has three Enomatic tasting machines. Each machine is geared to a theme such as international, zins and mixed bag. The Enomatic keeps the open bottle fresh using an inert gas to defend against oxidation.

tBow first encountered this remarkable machine in Napa circa 2005. A new tasting bar called Stave was the first US retailer to bring the machine made in Italy to the US. We liked the concept then and are pleased to see it has made it to LA. If you think oxidation can be deterred by simply keeping the bottles in the refrigerator then take a 15 time out before resuming this review. The Abronson family owns and operates Pourtal. Turns out they were inspired by the now defunct Stave project. Times are very tough in Napa so we hope Pourtal finds success in our neighborhood.

Pourtal is located where Santa Monica Blvd meets Pacific at the park overlooking the ocean. This first block is crammed with cool eating spots and typical bars including the World Famous Ye Olde Kings Head which I see now has a gift shop. If you like to drink British beers and watch soccer with Brit ex-pats then get on down to Ye Olde Kings Head. We presume YOKH is still a good meet market.

However, if you want to taste a lot of very interesting international or domestic wines then hit Pourtal right next door. I cannot say whether it is a good meet market but you can always just slide over to YOKH if you catch a buzz and an inclination.

Pourtal revolves around four tasting stations where one can self-dispense one ounce tastes of wines from a selection of 40 bottles>. You purchase a "smart card" with a read/write chip, setting your own spending limit. tBoW went for $20. Cost per taste varies according to the bottle. For example, the 2005 Dominus will take $8.80 out of your credit line [ed. and still be tight and not ready]. What makes Pourtal interesting from purely a wine snob perspective is the range of wines available for tasting. This is, of course, a function of the wit, energy and knowledge of the wine director. That would be Ms. Rachel Bryan.

Rachel brings solid credentials and the perfect palate to Pourtal. She has worked as sommelier in New York City and Los Angeles restaurants, She has also worked retail in one of NYC's premium wine shops, Chambers. So she knows wine. Proprietor Stephen Abronson loves wine but admittedly is not the total wine freak. However, he knew to hire Rachel. Together they select the monthly wine themes. The wine importers and distributors follow Rachel wherever she lands because who else will buy their most unusual international selections. And that is the point of Pourtal: where else can the wine-curious find answers to what is coming out of the Israeli or Croatian wine scenes? That makes Pourtal at least a monthly wine stop on tBoW's calendar. Coming up in the months ahead? Island Wines (Sicily, Canary, Mallorca, New Zealand), Funky Reds [ed. the Isaac Hayes to the James Brown of wines? We'll go just for the DJ], Top Eco-Wineries (Alma Rosa, Cade, Stoller, Bonny Doon). Wine is so much more than Parker ratings!

We visited Pourtal to learn about the operation and to taste wines poured by premium Malibu vintners Hoyt and Schetter. But we missed the tasting. You have to wait for another mega-Bu report to read about the Malibu part of the evening's program. However, coverage of Pourtal's outstanding international selection - such that one just does not see elsewhere - especially by the glass, follows.

2006 Teliani Valley Khvanchkara, Lechkhumi, Republic of Georgia $22: It's from Georgia; not the Atlanta Georgia; the former Soviet Socialist Republic state. Many of us do not realize that every one of those Central/Eastern euro nations has a long standing wine producing tradition. Like the Hungarian Tokay Aszu with its putonyos. Under Communism the tradition fell on hard times. We could speculate on why this was but we will not...except to say...never mind. The label on this wine says "semi-sweet red wine." I have heard semi-sweet is the preferred style for this part of Europe. Reputedly this was Stalin's favorite wine served to Churchill and Roosevelt at Yalta. Lots of acid here and sticky sweet juice. I am thinking this would probably go well with unfiltered cigarettes. All right. Cheap shot. This is a premium growing region that claims at least 15 aboriginal wine varietals. [ed. but are they vinifera?] and it is quite possible we may be seeing more wines from Georgia. It is often the case the best wines from a new region come later after the cheap ones have ruined all expectations. 12.5%

2008 Attila Gere Villány Portugieser $13: Light weight wine that is well-made if a bit thin. Think Julie Haggerty; like the great comedic actress the wine is quite enjoyable if not inspiring. If tBoW was traveling in Transylvania and saw a bottle he would buy it. 12.5%

2007 Bouza Tannat $37: This wine holds special interest because Tablas Creek produces a Tannat wine which is another good reason to follow TC. Hardy by reputation and certainly big and brawny from Paso Robles, tBoW was anxious to see what kind of Tannat is produced in Uruguay at the Bouza Bodega outside Montevideo across the strait from Buenos Aires. The nose is high toned and lofty. Restrained. Flavors are pleasant. Cannot taste the alcohol which is at Central Coast level. Not as ripe as the TC rendition. We like it. Solid middle weight. 15%

2007 Flam Classico $34: A blend of Cabernet and Merlot from the Judean Hills in Israel. Distinctive and appealing nose of charcoal and anise. A very good effort. Strong flavors, not too ripe. Fleshy. I would prefer this to many domestic blends. These last two wines were excellent ones to finish with. Chabad's house wine? Brought in by Israeli Wine Direct. 14%

This was a very fun tasting evening. Unusual wines that show how things are changing all over the world. All for $20. Big tBow stamp of approval.

Got to thinking about Julie Hagerty and found this wonderful and memorable scene from Lost in America. Maybe we did not give her sufficient credit. Imagine how tough it is to have your name constantly misspelled!